Archive for September, 2014

Headliner bands in Raleigh for the World of Bluegrass 2014 event will visit 13 WCPSS schools during the week of the music festival.

The bands will visit 12 elementary and middle schools, plus one high school. The designated elementary schools will get a 45-minute performance and instruction about the bluegrass tradition, while the middle and high schools will receive a one-hour master class for their strings students. Continue Reading . . .

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today named Briarcliff Elementary a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School, the top federal education department honor for K-12 schools.

Briarcliff is one of three N.C. elementary schools and 337 U.S. schools to earn the honor.

“We are very excited to receive this honor,” Briarcliff principal Stephanie Raiford said. “This reflects the hard work of our wonderful team of teachers and our tight knit school community.”

The U.S. Department of Education will honor Briarcliff and other Blue Ribbon Schools in ceremonies on Nov. 10-11 in Washington, D.C.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction nominated Briarcliff for the Blue Ribbon process. Raiford said the school staff had to work together to complete the extensive documentation required for the Blue Ribbon application. Continue Reading . . .

Wake County leaders turned dirt today to break ground for the new South Garner High opening in August 2016. Board of Education members, County Commissioners and Town of Garner leaders marked the start of construction where a new 111-classroom school will serve more than 2,300 students. Continue Reading . . .

Ligon Magnet Middle teacher Jo Garrison has been selected as the 2014 American Association of Teachers of German K-8 Outstanding German Educator. This prestigious award is given annually in recognition of innovative teaching, extraordinary talent and exceptional leadership in the German teaching profession. Garrison will be honored during the Awards Presentation at the Annual Convention and World Languages Expo in San Antonio, Texas.

The NC Symphony has honored Sanderson High Choral Director Marshall Butler with the 2014 Maxine Swalin Award. The award is presented annually to a NC music teacher who serves the community as a role model in music education, instills a love for music in children and inspires students to reach appropriately high musical standards. Butler will be honored with a reception on October 4 at Meymandi Concert Hall prior to the NC Symphony’s “Yevgeny Sudbin Plays Rachmaninoff” concert. The awards will be presented on stage during intermission.

Thanks to Sanderson High principal Greg Decker for sharing this story.

Wake Early College of Health and Sciences Assistant Principal Lisa Reid was awarded the Wilcox-Hodnett Doctoral Fellowship for Public School Administrators in North Carolinafor 2014-15 by the NC State University College of Education Leadership Program. The award recognizes doctoral students who demonstrate the capacity for significant or creative leadership. Reid is one of three doctoral candidates to receive the prestigious award this year.

Update at 3:09 p.m. – The lockdown has been lifted.
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At 2:50 p.m., we received word from the Cary Police Department that Weatherstone and Kingswood elementary schools should go into a community lockdown while law enforcement investigated an incident in the neighborhood near the schools.

In a community lockdown, all exterior doors of the school are locked and no one is allowed to enter or exit the building until an all-clear announcement is received from police. The school operates “business as usual” with the exception of no outside activities.

These steps are taken as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our students and faculty. Once the police gave us the all clear, the lockdown ended without any incident near the school campus.

The school system works closely with law enforcement and WCPSS Security in responding to such situations to ensure the safety of our students.

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has announced a grant award of more than $9 million to expand and revise magnet school themes in the Wake County Public School System. The Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) award, announced today, will provide funding over the next three years to support three new magnet school themes. It also will support revisions to two existing magnet themes. Continue Reading . . .

The Wake County Board of Education agreed on steps to more efficiently use classroom space at five schools beginning with the 2015-16 school year.

The board determined that:

Alston Ridge Elementary, currently operating at 111.6 percent on a single-track year-round calendar, will expand to a multi-track, year-round calendar. The school system will delay adding temporary classrooms at the school pending future growth.

Ballentine Elementary, currently operating at 65.1 percent on a four-track, year-round calendar, will drop one of its tracks. Four temporary classrooms will be identified for relocation and removed from the school’s crowding calculation. Ballentine will be reviewed again during the next enrollment plan update for options to increase facility utilization. Continue Reading . . .